This thread discusses the Content article: BYU needs more from MWC than easy wins

I don't think I could disagree more with this writer's views. One of the things he mentions--that more than one team has gone undefeated in this conference--actually supports the opposing argument, which is that, as Bronco Mendenhall has said, the MWC is indeed a tough league to play in. The fact that BYU has managed to go undefeated two years in a row is a tribute to them rather than an indictment of the rest of the league. But it wasn't "easy"--they needed a miracle finish against Utah both this year and last to win, and their road win this year over New Mexico was extremely hard-fought.

Also, their are FOUR teams in the league with eight wins, and there would be five if TCU had beaten Air Force (with 9 wins), BYU (with 10), or Wyoming. Is that a weak league? I think a serious re-evaluation of the determining criteria is in order.

Many people have pointed out that if BYU had won their games they would've made a BCS bowl and they are correct.

But that isn't my point in my column. My point is that the goal shouldn't be a BCS bowl; it should be a national championship. Consider the performances of the following title hopefuls:

1. LSU lost to 7-5 Kentucky and 8-4 Arkansas at home
2. Oklahoma lost to 6-6 Colorado and 8-4 Texas Tech
3. USC lost to 4-8 Stanford and 8-4 Oregon
4. Georgia lost to 6-6 South Carolina and 9-4 Tennessee
5. Virginia Tech lost to 10-3 Boston College and 11-2 LSU (by 41 points)
6. Ohio State lost to 9-3 Illinois at home

Looking at those numbers, how does BYU's narrow road losses to 9-4 Tulsa and 6-6 UCLA stack up? They're pretty similar.

The big difference is that they didn't get any notariety because they didn't beat anyone and neither did anyone else in the conference (Utah's wins over 6-6 UCLA and 6-6 Louisville won't impress anyone either). And though the television deal doesn't help, it isn't nearly as important as rising above the overall mediocrity.

I was writing to a BYU audience but perhaps I should've been more clear in stating that this is the case for everyone in the conference. The same formula applies to TCU, Utah, San Diego State, Wyoming, etc. An undefeated run in conference by itself isn't enough to get national title recognition unless a) the league can pull off some big upsets, b) you have two top 15 teams clash or c) we have a playoff including all conference champs and someone makes a run.

Seriously, any thinking BYU fan, coach, or player has to know that we constantly screw the pooch. We have a deplorable bowl record like 8-16-1, as Edwards was unabashed about his philosophy that bowl games were a paid vacation and a thank you to the players for hard work throughout the year, and they really did not prepare well for them. He also downplayed the importance of OOC games over and over (used to drive me nuts) with comments to the media that OC games were not more than scrimmages to prepare BYU to win the conference, and that all that mattered was winning the WAC. Edwards did a LOT of great things for BYU, but his OOC games and appearances in Bowls, and his, "oh, well, we got a vacation out of it" attitude was not among them. Second, we have a hard time being taken seriously when we drop "Should win" games against OOC teams (like Tulsa this year), and when we drop "Must win to gain respect" games (like AZ last year and UCLA this year).

Teams like TCU and Utah do a MUCH better job of rising to the occasion then BYU does. If anything, I think BYU's performances in OOC games has hurt the MWC more than any other team. It's name recognition and sometimes competitiveness in the league (ok, we are all trying to forget the Crowton years) lead people to believe that it should (if any MWC team can) be able to compete with OOC foes. When it lets the league down, it brings the whole league down. Utah has only recently come into the national spotlight (although it has an impressive bowl record), so its BCS busting can be written off as a fluke of having Urban at the helm, or the sun, moon and stars aligning just right, or whatever.

TCU takes care of OOC business and is always a scary opponent. It has a classy program and will probably for the foreseeable future be pre-season automatically in the top 3 regardless of the recruiting class. Utah also takes care of business. Say what you want about KWITT, but he gets his team up for the big games, and they flat out compete with anyone in the big games.

Too many BYU fans have a persecution complex, thinking that others are out to "get" BYU, either through religious bigotry (perceived or real), or because we are from the MWC (the constant little brother complex), because of BYU's "illegitimate" Nat'l Championship (yet, lately, I see a lot of BYU posters complaining about Hawaii's weak schedule), or whatever. We as fans need to realize that until BYU does more than just compete in its own conference, it will get what it deserves through its performance, and nothing else.

If the article would have looked a little at BYU's addition to the problem, it would have at least seemed like it wasn't looking down at the rest of the conference (even if, arguably, it wasn't). If Mr. Lloyd made the statements broader, that any team from the MWC needs more X, Y, or Z from the league in order to break through the glass ceiling, and BYU happens to be this year's example, it might have been a better article.

I can agree with that, but it's akin to saying we need to move to another conference. Everybody is for it, but it would have happened already if we could have done it.